WinXP crash on start, even with latest patch

[shinygerbil]

Okay, to summarise from this topic, I think the problem is to do with the World Map and only the World Map. If you try replacing BootLoader=random with Startmap=garden (or map of your choice) then it will most probably work. Also, using 3danalyze, I discovered that turning off all textures, or limiting them to 32x32, also solves the problem (but then you have the problem of not having textures). So the final verdict is that the World Map has some form of texture that these ATI drivers don't like.

...And the patch didn't fix things, of course.

[tomc]

replacing BootLoader=random with Startmap=garden ...And the patch didn't fix things, of course. :?

OK, after a warning about the no execute bit (and turning that feature off), I now get an exception in darwinia itself:

AppName: darwinia.exe AppVer: 0.0.0.0 ModName: darwinia.exe
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 00080c5b

Edit:
I get the above error when startmap=mine is set.

Anyway, running Darwinia through the 3dAnalyze thing with 'small textures' under openGL ticked, at least allows *something* to run.
I assume your loading screens are more fun with the non-mangeled setting. Onec past them, something that might be a map is displayed, but it all looks very checkboard - I think this is because textures have gone funny.

Hope all this helps you guys debug me and the person on the other thread.

[hanoiman]

I also have this problem. Black screen, a few seconds of music, and then the exception error citing aitoglxx.dll.

Running on a laptop, HP ze4300, with a Radeon IGP 340M display adapter with driver version 6.14.10.6436.

Don't really have the option of trying it on Linux as suggested above. I've also read about people having success with different drivers, and others not, so I'm not real excited about trying that either -- especially since this machine runs 20-30 other games with no problem, including a few released in just the past year.

From reading through threads on this issue I take it I'm probably just scrood for the time being, pending a fix in a future patch, but thought I'd chime in anyway for what it's worth.

[NeoThermic]

I also have this problem. Black screen, a few seconds of music, and then the exception error citing aitoglxx.dll.

Running on a laptop, HP ze4300, with a Radeon IGP 340M display adapter with driver version 6.14.10.6436.

Don't really have the option of trying it on Linux as suggested above. I've also read about people having success with different drivers, and others not, so I'm not real excited about trying that either -- especially since this machine runs 20-30 other games with no problem, including a few released in just the past year.

From reading through threads on this issue I take it I'm probably just scrood for the time being, pending a fix in a future patch, but thought I'd chime in anyway for what it's worth.

translating 6.14.10.6436 out means that your ATI driver is 4.4

I know for a fact that the first ATi driver range to work with Darwinia is 4.10 (not 4.11, yes to 4.12), or any 5.x series. Updating your graphics card driver should solve the issue; this is not an issue with Darwinia.

NeoThermic

[hanoiman]

I also have this problem. Black screen, a few seconds of music, and then the exception error citing aitoglxx.dll.

Running on a laptop, HP ze4300, with a Radeon IGP 340M display adapter with driver version 6.14.10.6436.

Don't really have the option of trying it on Linux as suggested above. I've also read about people having success with different drivers, and others not, so I'm not real excited about trying that either -- especially since this machine runs 20-30 other games with no problem, including a few released in just the past year.

From reading through threads on this issue I take it I'm probably just scrood for the time being, pending a fix in a future patch, but thought I'd chime in anyway for what it's worth.

translating 6.14.10.6436 out means that your ATI driver is 4.4

I know for a fact that the first ATi driver range to work with Darwinia is 4.10 (not 4.11, yes to 4.12), or any 5.x series. Updating your graphics card driver should solve the issue; this is not an issue with Darwinia.

NeoThermic

OK, thanks, but then what to do when Windows Update doesn't find a newer version of the driver? Nor does trying to update it automatically through Device Manager. (Using Win XP Home). Nor does going to the HP site's section for this laptop model.

I've tried going to various driver download sites but can't find anything that seems reliable, eg confirmed to work with a Radeon 340M.

Again, because every other game/software I have works with the current driver, I'm loathe to gamble on dodgy drivers just for the sake of Darwinia. I'd be happy to hear about a specific web link/driver I could have some confidence in.

[The GoldFish]

Um, the Omega drivers should work. You may also be able to get official Radeon drivers with their inf file changed to make them realise that the chip in your laptop is a chip they actually support - most laptop graphics cards are simply renamed, they don't use different architecture from the chipsets they were derived from. I would wager that using eg the 5.8 Catalysts altered so windows would install them for your card would probably be more stable than using the 4.4 drivers you currently have.

Microsoft did not make your graphics card, don't go to them for drivers, if you do, you'll get things several months late.

Laptop manufacturers don't want to give you newer drivers, they want you to buy a new laptop. Especially when your laptop graphics chip was in laptops that shipped around 3 years ago.

I would suggest you investigate both this and this

These are substantially less dodgy than drivers you could get, which are usually leaked betas or sneaked off of FTP sites.

[hanoiman]

Um, the Omega drivers should work. You may also be able to get official Radeon drivers with their inf file changed to make them realise that the chip in your laptop is a chip they actually support - most laptop graphics cards are simply renamed, they don't use different architecture from the chipsets they were derived from. I would wager that using eg the 5.8 Catalysts altered so windows would install them for your card would probably be more stable than using the 4.4 drivers you currently have.

Microsoft did not make your graphics card, don't go to them for drivers, if you do, you'll get things several months late.

Laptop manufacturers don't want to give you newer drivers, they want you to buy a new laptop. Especially when your laptop graphics chip was in laptops that shipped around 3 years ago.

I would suggest you investigate both this and this

These are substantially less dodgy than drivers you could get, which are usually leaked betas or sneaked off of FTP sites.

OK, so I installed the Omega 2.6.53 drivers, the system shows they installed properly, and I still get the same error.

The only thing that has made any difference, though not enough, as discussed in this thread:

http://forums.introversion.co.uk/darwin ... php?t=1870

was going into preferences.txt and changing BootLoader = firsttime to BootLoader = random. This got it past the initial lockup and started running several different times... one was some kind of splash intro for a crack (???), one was a screen saying "this software is in no way endorsed by Sensible Software" or something to that effect, and others were mystifying green blobs bopping around the screen without explanation.

In all cases, pressing ESC caused it to crash again in exactly the same way. Changing bootloader to "none" or deleting the line entirely failed to get it past locking up at the beginning. And now after several hours of mucking about I'm fed up with trying to get this game to run.

What is needed here is a patch, or a refund offer. It *is* an issue with Darwinia. Everything else runs fine on my computer. There is enough evidence on this board that this game has problems with certain ATI cards; I think all the cases I've seen here have been laptops, as is mine.

[xander]

I am guessing that if you set "BootLoader = none" the game crashes right away? Also, is a blackbox.txt file generated (look in your Darwinia directory)? Did you ever get the demo running properly (i.e. perhaps this is a problem with the full game that does not appear in the demo)?

xander

[hanoiman]

I am guessing that if you set "BootLoader = none" the game crashes right away? Also, is a blackbox.txt file generated (look in your Darwinia directory)? Did you ever get the demo running properly (i.e. perhaps this is a problem with the full game that does not appear in the demo)?

xander

Yes, with "BootLoader = none" and with the line deleted entirely I get the black screen and immediate error without even any music. "BootLoader = firsttime" gets a black screen and music but then the crash after several seconds.

There is no blackbox.txt file in the Darwinia directory.

I never tried running the demo. I've seen the posts by others with this problem who said they did run the demo OK.

[NeoThermic]

What is needed here is a patch, or a refund offer. It *is* an issue with Darwinia. Everything else runs fine on my computer. There is enough evidence on this board that this game has problems with certain ATI cards; I think all the cases I've seen here have been laptops, as is mine.

You've just contradicted yourself there. The real issue is ATi cards in laptops, since ATi drops support for these (only recently has it started to care, but not much has been seen from that).

The main reason that "everything else" works is that "everything else" has had help from ATi, where as Darwinia hasn't. However, since they haven't, there isn't anything to patch. Thus it isn't an issue with Darwinia.

However, send me a PM and I'll hook you up with a debugging application for use with Darwinia; hopefully that will give us a better clue on where Darwinia is having problems.

NeoThermic

[hanoiman]

The main reason that "everything else" works is that "everything else" has had help from ATi, where as Darwinia hasn't. However, since they haven't, there isn't anything to patch. Thus it isn't an issue with Darwinia.

However, send me a PM and I'll hook you up with a debugging application for use with Darwinia; hopefully that will give us a better clue on where Darwinia is having problems.

NeoThermic

Therefore you've just explained why there is an issue with Darwinia regarding ATi cards in laptops: lack of help from ATi. Fine.

Perhaps I should clarify that I don't intend "issue with Darwinia" as a coded way of saying "this is crap software." No doubt it runs fine on most systems. I'd simply like to get it to run on mine. I've paid my $30 and spent several hours hunting solutions on this forum and installing new drivers, to no avail. So naturally enough at this time I would welcome constructive suggestions from those responsible for Darwinia or associated with its development.

In that light, I take it that the purpose of the debugging application is fact-finding rather than fixing. If so, and should using it be reasonably quick and easy, I'd be happy to give it a try at some point when I may have some free time.

[rramjet]

Ok, I read al the way through this thread and started looking into videodriver issues.

However, before I went and changed anything I dida little thinking.

I installed the program on my laptop.

The program loaded up after I installed it. Later I played it while docked. Then even later I tried to start up the game and got a crash.

I relized that when docked Ihad changed the refresh rate (60 Hz on a LCD looks bad when docked and viewed on a CRT).

So I went into the preferences.txt file and changed the refresh to 60 and now it works fine.

Maybe just something to check before making any other major changes on your system.

[hanoiman]

So I went into the preferences.txt file and changed the refresh to 60 and now it works fine.

Maybe just something to check before making any other major changes on your system.

Just to check I tried changing various display settings in preferences.txt with no luck. The refresh was already on 60; at lower rates it crashed immediately. Similar results with changing the pixel shader from 1 to 0 and resolution from 1024x768 to 800x600.

[xander]

So I went into the preferences.txt file and changed the refresh to 60 and now it works fine.

Maybe just something to check before making any other major changes on your system.

Just to check I tried changing various display settings in preferences.txt with no luck. The refresh was already on 60; at lower rates it crashed immediately. Similar results with changing the pixel shader from 1 to 0 and resolution from 1024x768 to 800x600.

What if you run the game in windowed mode? It still crashes?

xander

[hanoiman]

What if you run the game in windowed mode? It still crashes?

xander

Yes.